On Nov. 25 the Grosse Pointe Board of Education voted 5-1 (with one absentee) in favor of a $50.28 million Technology Bond coming before the community on Feb. 25, 2014. The bond would entail a complete overhaul of all the district’s security, computers, servers, wireless networks, lighting, and power and energy management as well as many more
needed upgrades to utilities in buildings that are in some cases 85 years old.

It should be noted that as a result of passing this bond, $2.28 million in mills would be levied, which equates to an extra $228.39 per year tax increase on a house of $200,000 or a $342.59 per year increase on a house with a market value of $300,000, School Board Vice President Daniel Roeske said. However, the bond is not just an investment into the students of Grosse Pointe Public Schools but also the community at-large. It is no secret that the level of education is one of the main attractions to living here; improving the schools by making them safer and smarter will pay long-term dividends that cannot be measured in dollars and cents.

Computers are an essential element to learning in modern America, not only being used by students to create paperless projects on programs like Prezi or extend the classroom with in-class iPads, but also by teachers to organize lessons that revolve around Youtube videos made by professionals or put together paper-free assignments on services like Quest or Edmodo. At all levels and realms of education, the decade-old desktops and laptops are hindrances and are no where near the level of quality expected by a school system of such high regard. Also, having a fully wireless internet is crucial with today’s advancements of technology; the updates to the technology would be purposeless without the flexibility it provides.

One of the largest hurdles students face today is the aging technological systems, with computers older than current elementary students that frequently crash and freeze, it is imperative that members of the community vote in
support of the Technology Bond this coming February. Institutions like the Towerare greatly hampered in their ability to put together a newspaper and the quality of work that could be done with an updated computer lab would be magnitudes better as would the numerous clubs and organizations throughout the school system.

Security is yet another area that has atrophied over the past few years, the safety of students and staff should be one of great concern. The Technology Bond would cover improvements to alarms, security cameras, locks and video storage; there is little reason to leave the most vulnerable members of the community in the hands of outdated technological systems.

In short, the schools are the foundation to Grosse Pointe and without up-to-date educational systems and technologies the education of the students will begin to fall behind and the community will suffer as potential residents look elsewhere. A relatively small tax increase and voting yes on the Technology Bond will go a long way to solving this issue now and in the future.